Apparatus for lubricating shafts



Sept. 9, 1952 M. MALLORY 2,610,096 APPARATUS FOR LUBRICATING SHAFTSFiled Feb. 14, 1949 v v 4 my 1 7 8.! j l z 3 L3 VACUUM PUMP F1 Gr. 3.

' INVENTOR.

Patented Sept. 9, 1952 IUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE This inventionrelates lubricating shafts.

It is common practice to lubricate shafts by forcing oil or otherlubricant under pressure through the bearing for the shaft. This mannerof lubricating is disadvantageous because the lubricant is frequentlyforced out of the ends of the shaft or bearing and lost.

It is an object of this invention to produce an apparatus forlubricating a shaft and bearing which is simple and economical inoperation and which will avoid loss of lubricant by leakage through theends of the shaft or bearing and the disadvantages which result fromsuch leakage.

Fig. 1 is an illustrative showing of an apparatus for lubricating shaftsaccording to my method.

Fig. 2 is a section along the line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section corresponding to Fig. 2 of a modified form of myapparatus.

Referring more particularly to the drawings it will be seen that myapparatus comprises the following elements: rotary shaft I journalled inporous bearing 2, bearing support and housing 3, sump 4 which holds areserve of lubricating oil 5, vacuum pump 6 the low pressure or vacuumside of which is connected by pipe line I with axial passageway 8 inshaft I. The end of shaft I is sealed by leather seal 9 having a centralopening l therein which communicates with the adjacent ends of pipe lineI and passageway 8. 0il pipe line II connects sump 4 with elongatedistributor passageway I2 in housing 3. Shaft I is provided with aplurality of radial branch passageways I3 which extend betweenpassageway 8 and the surface of shaft I.

The operation of my lubricating system is as follows: Vacuum pump 6creates a vacuum or sub-atmospheric pressure in line I, passageway 8 andbranch passageways I3 which communicate through porous or otherwiseforaminated bearing 2 with distributor passageway l2 and line II. Thiscauses oil to be drawn from sump 4 through line II, distributor I2 andthrough porous bearing 2 where it is distributed throughout the bearingsurface area between bearing 2 and shaft I and then drawn through branchpassageways l3, passageway 8 and line I to pump 6 and then dischargedthrough line I into sump 4. since shaft I rotates, the branchpassageways I3 will cause the vacuum or suction to be appliedcircumferentially about the inside of bearing 2 and the location ofpassageways I3 will be such that the coil or other lubricant will bedrawn through porous bearing 2 and uniformly distributed throughout thebearing surface area between bearing 2 and to an apparatus for 6 Claims.(Cl. 308-121) 2 shaft I. Since bearing 2 is underja vacuum orsubatmospheric pressure, the oil will not leak out of the ends ofbearing 2 but will always be drawn through passageways I3, 8 and I bypump 6 into the sump 4.

Although I have shown bearing 2 as a so-called porou oilless bearing, Ican 'apply my arrangement of lubricating by vacuum to solid bearingsprovided the bearing has holes or grooves through or in it to permit theoil to be drawn to the active bearing surface. The important point isthat the surfaces of the bearing and shaft in lubricated bearing contactshould be under vacuum so that the flow of lubricant is inwardly fromthe ends of the bearing surface area rather than outwardly as in thecase of pressure lubricated bearings. I have illustrated such type ofsolid bearing in Fig. 3. In this form of the invention the bearinghousing I6 is provided with the distributor passageway 12 and twoadditional passageways I1 and I8 which extend axially along the outsideof solid bearing I9 and communicate with the main distributor passagewayI2 by passageways 20. Solid bearing I9 is provided with a plurality ofholes 2I therethrough in the area between each passageway I2 and shaftI. Solid bearing I9 is lubricated in the same manner as porous bearing2. The suction or vacuum applied to passageways 8 and I3 in shaft I drawoil from sump 4 through pipe line II, distributor passageways I2, I'l,I8 and holes 21 to the effective bearing surface area between shaft Iand the inner face of bearing I9 where the oil effectively lubricatesthe bearing. The surplus oil is drawn through branch passageways I3 andpassageways 8 and I to pump 6 which returns the excess oil through lineI5 to sump 4. Thus, there is no tendency for the lubricant to leak outthe end 22 of the bearing surface area because the outside atmosphericpressure will always be higher than the subatmospheric pressure inpassageways I3 and 8 which tends to draw the lubricant inwardly from theopen end 22' of the bearing surface area. It is, of course, appreciatedthat the location of passageways 8 and I3 is illustrative and that thenumber of passageways I3 can be decreased and, if desirable, thesebranch passageways can be located nearer to the end 22 of the bearingsurface area.

My apparatus for lubricating a bearing is very useful for lubricatingthe hearings on automotive vehicles, such as trucks and buses. Althoughshaft I has been illustrated as a rotary shaft, it will be appreciatedthat my arrangement for lubricating is not limited in use to rotaryshafts.

I claim:

1. In combination a bearing, a rotary shaft carried in said bearing, asource of lubricant, a source of vacuum, a passageway connecting saidsource of lubricant with the bearing surface of said bearing, an axiallyextending passageway in said shaft, and at least one branch passagewayin said shaft communicating at one end with said axial passageway-and atthe other end with the surface of said shaft, said axial and branchpassageways connecting said source of vacuum with said bearing surfacewhereby the lubricant is drawn from said source of lubricant to saidbearing surface to lubricate the same and then drawn from said bearingsurface through said-branch and axial passageways to said source ofvacuum.

2. The combination claimed in claim 1 wherein a lubricant distributingpassageway is provided along the outside of said bearing.

3. The combination claimed in claim 2 including a housing in which saidbearing is supported and wherein the lubricating distributor passagewayis located in said housing adjacent to the outer surface of saidbearing.

4. The combination claimed in claim 3 wherein the bearing is a permeableporous bearing.

5. The combination claimed in claim 4 wherein the bearing is a poroussleeve bearing and the said shaft is provided with a plurality ofaxially spaced branch passageways.

6. The combination claimed in claim 5 wherein the first mentionedpassageway connects the source of lubricant with the outer face of saidbearing and wherein the axial and branch passageways connect the sourceof vacuum with the inner face of said bearing whereby the lubricantflows radially inwardly through said bearing to the bearing surface.

MARION MALLORY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

" UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name. Date 1,634,768 Bonner .July 5; 19272,299,119 Yeomans Got, .20, 1942 2,402,467 Thompson June 18, 1946FOREIGN PATE T Number Country D3 423,474 Great Britain gg-ss Feb. 1-,1935

